Archive for August 18th, 2025
Kicking dirt in Homestead
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Where I was standing while shooting this photo is where the structural steel inside the Empire State Building and the East River Bridges was manufactured. It’s also where the steel that would rebuild the US’s WW2 Pacific Fleet – destroyed at Pearl Harbor – was forged. Homestead, Pennsylvania, this is. Just 7 miles outside of Pittsburgh proper.
After the largest steel mill on earth was closed during the Reagan Administration, the municipality of Homestead that it formerly dwelt within was left with a quandary: finding some economic model to keep their citizens alive. The answer they came up with was a vast retail complex called ‘The Waterfront,’ which would also include a residential component and waterfront recreation trails.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Me? I had some time to kill. Our Lady of the Pentacle signed up for a metal working class over at Carrie Furnace, and I had earlier dropped her off there for the event. That gave me three hours to fill, and I really didn’t want to just head back to HQ (only about a half hour away, but…) so a cunning plan was hatched.
It wasn’t all that cunning, actually. I had dinner at a Red Robin burger restaurant and then shlepped back to the car to go take photos. There’s a nearby location which I’ve been haunting, in Homestead, which has offered nothing but photographic frustration to me…
Time to kill? Photo location that’s ‘pregnant’ but unfulfilled? Yep, that’s the one.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The bridge pictured is the Homestead Grays Bridge, connecting the Homestead side of the river to the communities of Rankin, Swissvale, and Braddock. It’s named for the famous Negro League Baseball Team, who were basically the Yankees of their category. Amongst others; Satchel Page, Cool Papa Bell, and Josh Gibson played for the Grays.
Tomorrow, more from Homestead.
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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
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